Third Degree Burns (2013)
Third Degree Burns (2013), stylized as 3rd° Burns was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WEW that took place on December 8, 2013 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event was the 2nd Third Degree Burns event and was WEW's last pay-per-view event in 2013. The theme song for the event is "Phoenix" by American rock band Fall Out Boy. The current reigning WEW Champion Chris McKenzie is featured on the PPV poster. Background After winning the WEW Championship, Chris McKenzie would make an open challenge to anyone in the locker room. Jayceon Taylor later made it known that he was giving McKenzie the chance to pick his opponent for the next PPV, Third Degree Burns. McKenzie would later be attacked from behind by Craig Anderson, effectively answering the challenge. A week later in a WEW.com exclusive McKenzie chose Anderson as his opponent and said that he would regret attacking him and that he was going to prove why he was the WEW Champion and warned Anderson not to play with fire, because he was gonna get burned. On the November 25, 2013 episode of Animosity, McKenzie revealed the stipulation that he had chosen for the match and ended up choosing an Inferno match On the November 11, 2013 episode of Animosity Chris Dunn defeated Jason Church, despite interference from Dexter Black who was sitting at commentary. It was later revealed on-screen that Dunn was dating Adrenaline Starlet Hannah Walters. Dunn returned the favor a week later, on Animosity sitting at commentary for Black's match against Kevin Hunter. The match would end in a double countout as Dexter threw Hunter into Chris at the announce table, this wouldn't sit well with Dunn who attacked Dexter and sent him into the steel steps, before doing the same to Jeffrey. Chris would then pose with the Universal Championship with the crowd, clearly stating that he wanted another shot at Dexter and the championship. On the November 25, 2013 episode of Animosity the match was made official and would be contested at Third Degree Burns inside of a Steel cage. Another big feud heading into the PPV is between Ryan Henderson and Calvin Harris, one that has been stemming since the previous PPV, WEW Crossroads. It was during this event that Henderson turned heel and attacked Harris after the match. Henderson later revealed that he had aligned himself with Michael Harris and was going to do what both Adrian Jobs and Ryan Jackson couldn't and that was take out Calvin for good. That same night, Henderson attempted to ambush Harris again following his match with Gabriel Asar, however Harris saw it coming and attempted to hit him with a superkick, however Henderson managed to dodge out of the way. A week later on the November 22, 2013 episode of Adrenaline Henderson lost to Shady Layne after being superkicked by Calvin Harris who had joined commentary. The following week, it was made pretty obvious that Henderson wanted Harris one on one, so it was granted to him and the match was made official for Third Degree Burns. However the stipulation was chosen by Harris and he picked a 3 Stages of 3rd Degree Burns match. It's pretty much a regular Three Stage of Hell match with the exception being that any kind of weapon that's used is allowed to be set on fire and used. The first fall will be a Flaming Kendo Stick match, where whoever gets to the Kendo stick first and is able to ignite it; is allowed to use it. The second fall will be a Flaming table match where the only way to win is to put your opponent through a flaming table. The Third and final fall will be an I Quit Match with various flaming objects at ringside. Another feud that's been ongoing for a number of months now is between Courtney Rimes and Karolina Graf. It's been ongoing ever since Rimes became the WEW Starlets Champion back in September. Karolina believes that she deserves to be champion and not Rimes. Graf has since teamed up with Amber Torres who also shares a large dislike for Rimes as champion and the two have been constantly pushing Courtney around and double teaming her. Karolina would later win a #1 Contenders match to earn herself an opportunity at Courtney's title. After doing this the attacks continued from Graf and soon after Torres joined in on them as well. Courtney would later get an ally in Erin Spencer as the two would knock off both Graf and Torres in a tag team match on the November 25 episode of Animosity that very same night it was revealed that Rimes would defend the Starlets Championship against Graf at Third Degree Burns. It was later announced that an open battle royal would be held for Adrenaline Elitists to enter for a chance to become the #1 Contender for the WEW World Championship and face Shady Layne, possibly in the new year. Event The first match of the pay-per-view was Brooklyn Carter taking on Caroline for the WEW Women's Championship. The climax came when Brooklyn exposed the top turnbuckle and dodged out of the way with Caroline hitting the exposed turnbuckle head first which allowed Brooklyn to hit her with Mama Nikita to win the Women's Championship. The second match of the pay-per-view was Gabriel Asar defending his WEW Titan Championship against former champion, Trish Newborn. The ending came when Trish countered the Fantasie Impromptu and landed the Californian Kiss, before locking in her No Regrets submission maneuver and forcing Gabriel to tap out, winning her second Titan Championship. The third match was a Triple threat match between Gabriel Asar, Sapphire Marino and debuting Elitist, Nefarious for the #1 Contendership for the WEW World Championship. Nefarious won the match after pinning Sapphire Marino. The next match was between Courtney Rimes and Karolina Graf for the WEW Starlets Championship. Rimes retained the championship after hitting Graf with a Court-Go-Round from the top rope. Rimes later celebrated her victory with her tag team partner Erin Spencer in the ring. The fourth match was the Steel cage match for the WEW Universal Championship between Dexter Black and challenger Chris Dunn. Prior to the match starting, Dunn brought out Wrestling legend and Hall of Famer, Ric Flair. Flair was the night's special guest who had a special seat for him at ringside. Flair would later get involved in the match, first low-blowing the referee and stealing the key to the cage door as he threw it into the crowd. Flair got involved a second time thwarting Jeffrey's attempts to help Dexter inside the cage hitting him as well with a low blow. The ending to the match came after Dunn hit Dexter with a Heartstopper from the top rope, only to lock in the Figure-four leglock on Dexter and forcing him to tap out to win the championship. The next match was the 3 Stages of Third Degree Burns match between Ryan Henderson and Calvin Harris. Harris would win the first stage, a Flaming Kendo stick match. Henderson would win the second stage, a Flaming Tables match - before winning the third and final stage, an I Quit match after Michael Harris threw in the towel for Calvin after he continuously refused to quit. The main event was the Inferno match for the WEW Championship between challenger Craig Anderson and the champion, Chris McKenzie. The climax came when Anderson grabbed a broken kendo stick and placed the end of it in the flames, before placing using it like a torch, before setting McKenzie's foot on fire to win the match and the WEW Championship. Results Aftermath On the following episode of Animosity Craig Anderson bragged about becoming the new WEW Champion and scolded the WEW Universe for doubting him. Later in the night during Anderson's match with Kevin Hunter, Santa Claus made his way down to the ring and confronted Anderson only to hit him with a Comatose State and revealing himself to be Chris McKenzie in disguise. McKenzie later revealed that he was cashing in on his rematch for the WEW Championship and that it would take place the following week. Alakai Burke later made a surprising appearance and announced that the match would indeed take place and that it would be contested in a Santa's Workshop Street Fight match. Earlier that night, new WEW Universal Champion Chris Dunn defeated K.J. Styles in a non-title match. Jake Gargano also issued a challenge to Craig Anderson for the following week, after the rematch between McKenzie and Anderson was made he later stated that the challenge was then to whoever won the match.